Today, smart card manufacturers make use of their own developed USB dongle containing a smart card reader. The PCSC-driver and the plug and play mechanism of Windows provide the OS with all information which enables any application running on the host device to utilise the smart card connected via the USB dongle for its own purpose.
On the other hand, telecommunications cards are known, which enable the host device to communicate via a telecommunication network. For enabling user identification towards the used telecommunication network, these telecommunication cards carry a smart card with user specific information and have a smart card reader on board. However, as it has been implemented up to now, this smart card can only be used for user identification purposes towards the network operator.